Only the Daily Star could make the New York Post look like the New York Times.

We’re a little late to this one, but last week that bastion of accurate reporting, the UK’s Daily Star, ran an article insinuating that Rockstar was making a Grand Theft Auto game based on the criminal actions committed earlier this month by ex-con Raoul Moat, who killed one and injured three across a six-day spree throughout the NorthEast UK.

GTA Rothbury, as the game was called by Star writer Jerry Lawton, contained a series of animated quotes from relatives of the victims, outraged by the thought of a game, book or movie based on the criminal’s exploits, as reported up by CVG.

The story was eventually taken off the Star’s website entirely (since it was made up) and the newspaper issued an apology (thanks again CVG) stating:

We made no attempt to check the accuracy of the story before publication and did not contact Rockstar Games prior to publishing the story. We also did not question why a best-selling and critically acclaimed fictional games series would choose to base one of their most popular games on this horrifying real crime event.

It is now accepted that there were never any plans by Rockstar Games to publish such a game and that the story was false. We apologise for publishing the story using a mock-up of the game cover, our own comments on the matter and soliciting critical comments from a grieving family member.

Lawton, the author of the piece, wasn’t so apologetic. He took to his Facebook page (thanks Destructoid) in order to talk smack about gamers upset with his fiction, writing:

Baffled by the fury of adult gamers. These are grown (?!?) men who sit around all day playing computer games with one another who've today chosen to enter the real world just long enough to complain about my story slamming a Raoul Moat version of Grand Theft Auto! You would think I'd denied the Holocaust!!! Think I'll challenge them to a virtual reality duel....stab....I win!!!

One of Lawton’s favorite quotes listed on his Facebook page is “better to regret something you've done than something you haven't.” Think he regrets making up this story yet?

Comments

The journalist made perhaps one of the worst "crimes" that you can do in journalism which is to fabricate a story or perhaps a lesser "crime" which is not to do any research into a story at all and to base the story off of what?

And again incorrect stereotyping in regards to gamers, although isn't it ironic that he moans about people spending all day on games whilst he spends all day on Facebook?

I should expect his credibility as a journalist to be destroyed. It doesn't matter what the story is or what it is about, it is unacceptable in journalism. Quit complaining your poor journalism has been caught out.

"There’s no such thing [as an objective story]... The objective journalist is one of those great myths you read about like a Griffin or a Phoenix... or an honest politician. Everyone’s got an agenda whether they admit it or not... but you try not to let it get in the way of the truth... "

It reminds me a hoax that occurred a couple of years ago in France : the "147 silicon suicides story".

It happened at the end of 2004. A French gaming site talked about the postponing of the latest “Dead or Alive”, and joked about 147 otakus who would commit suicide by injecting silicon bags and hanging themselves with giant bras.

Problem: few days after, French newspaper “Libération” wrote an article about collective suicides in Japan, mentioning (very seriously) the “147 silicon suicides”. And the cherry on the cake: TV-channel “France 2″ also mentioned it on a report, claiming : “video games cause suicides, specialists say so” (they also deliberately manipulated quotes from the people they interviewed).

This sparked a furor over French gaming sites and blogs, so much that journalist from “Libération” quickly apologized. So did “France 2″, more or less. First, one of their journalists issued a very short statement, saying that the information was false, but it wasn’t their fault : they blamed an “English-speaking Japanese newspaper”, then they said that anyway, collective suicides exist and are a serious matter. But a couple of days later, they finally called the game blogger who’d made the joke and asked him to debate with them. The blogger defended himself quite well, and the journalist who made the report apologized more or less.

Wouldn't be the first time a media story mistook satire as legitimate news.

An asian news show (Chinese I think) once reported that Congress was demanding the capitol have a retractable dome.

----------------------------------------------------

Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

----------------------------------------------------
Debates are like merry go rounds.
Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

----------------------------------------------------
Debates are like merry go rounds.
Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

Let's forget about taste for a minute does anyone really think Rockstar would've made that game?

"who killed one and injured three"

So he attacked 4 people? That's pitifully low for a GTA character.

"across a six-day spree"

So six missions maybe, seems pretty short for a GTA game.

Not only that but does anyone think it still would've been relevant by the time they finished?

----------------------------------------------------

Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

----------------------------------------------------
Debates are like merry go rounds.
Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

Shout box

You're not permitted to post shouts.

ZippyDSMlee: .....win8 hates any left over hidden install partitions from other version of windows....only waste 5 hours finding that out...its ahrder than you think keeping up with 4 or 5 HDDS......03/03/2015 - 4:44am

Matthew Wilson: I am going to pax east, any games you guys want me to check out?03/02/2015 - 11:23pm

ZippyDSMlee: No one remembers the days of Cinemagic and Cynergy eh? :P, meh even MGS is getting to film like....03/02/2015 - 8:44pm

MechaTama31: I was about to get all defensive about liking Metal Gear Solid, but then I saw that he was talking about "cinematic" as a euphemism for "crappy framerate".03/02/2015 - 8:29pm

prh99: Just replace cinematic with the appropriate synonym for poo and you'll have gist of any press release.03/02/2015 - 5:34pm

Monte: Though from a business side, i would agree with the article. While it would be smarter for developers to slow down, you can't expect EA, Activision or ubisoft to do something like that. Nintnedo's gotta get the third party back.02/28/2015 - 4:36pm

Monte: Though it does also help that nintendo's more colorful style is a lot less reliant on graphics than more realistic games. Wind Waker is over 10 years old and still looks good for its age.02/28/2015 - 4:33pm

Monte: With the Wii, nintnedo had the right idea. Hold back on shiny graphics and focus on the gameplay experience. Unfortunatly everyone else keeps pushing for newer graphics and it matters less and less each generation. I can barely notice the difference02/28/2015 - 4:29pm

Monte: ON third party developers; i kinda think they should slow down to nintendo's pace. They bemoan the rising costs of AAA gaming, but then constantly push for the best graphics which is makes up a lot of those costs. Be easier to afford if they held back02/28/2015 - 4:27pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/02/28/the-world-is-nintendos-if-only-theyd-take-it/ I think this is a interesting op-ed, but yeah it kind of is stating the obvious.02/28/2015 - 2:52pm